Genre: Pop-Rock, Soft-Rock Media: CD Country of release: Netherlands Year of release: 1967-2014 Publisher (label): Universal Music Catalog number: 377 807-2 Country of artist (band): Netherlands Audio codec: FLAC (*.flac) Rip type: tracks+.cue Audio bitrate: lossless Duration: 15:27:47 Albums: CD01 - Cats As Cats Can (1967) CD02 - Cats (1968) CD03 - Colour Us Gold (1969) CD04 - Take Me With You (1970) CD05 - Cats Aglow (1971) CD06 - Signed By The Cats (1972) CD07 - Katzen-spiele (1972) CD08 - Home (1973) CD09 - Love In Your Eyes (1974) CD10 - Hard To Be Friends (1975) CD11 - We Wish You A Merry Christmas (1975) CD12 - Homerun (1976) CD13 - Like The Old Days (1977) CD14 - Third Life (1983) CD15 - Live, Part 1 (1984) CD16 - Live, Part 2 (1984) CD17 - Flyin' High (1985) CD18 - Shine On (1994) CD19 - Singles & Rarities (2014) The band began life as two separate duos: Cees Veerman (born 6 October 1943) and Arnold Muhren (born 28 January 1944) who started in a skiffle band; and cousins Piet Veerman (born 1 March 1943) and Jaap Schilder (born 9 January 1943) who modelled themselves after the Everly Brothers. The duos merged and became The Mystic Four, with Cees Veerman and Piet Veerman on vocals/guitar, Schilder on guitar (and piano), and Muhren on bass. By 1965 they changed their name to The Blue Cats, a reference to the colour of their suits and Cees' nickname, Poes (Dutch for 'cat'). Dropping the 'Blue' from their name in 1966 they recruited drummer Theo Klouwer (30 June 1947 – 8 February 2001). The Cats borrowed money from Jan Buys, who was later to become their manager, and recorded their first singles that immediately entered the charts. Singing in English thanks to a songwriting duo from England, the group sounded British. Cees initially performed the majority of the lead vocals but that was to change by 1968 when the band recorded "Times Were When"; Piet decided that this song (the original version is by the Scottish band Studio Six), suited his voice better and Cees agreed on giving him a go. Arnold's lyrics and Piet's sad voice appeared to be a match made in heaven, spawning five Top 10 hits in the next two years including "Lea"[1] (dedicated to a faithful fan who died in a car accident), "Why?",[2] "Scarlet Ribbons"[3] and "Marian".[4] Their international popularity began to grow (and so did the beards). By spring 1970 the Cats toured Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles and played one show on 4 April 1970 in Guyana. It was Beatlemania all over again. On 17 October 1970 the band travelled to EMI headquarters in London to collect, as Theo said when the Dutch television show TopPop followed them, "a few goldies". These were presented to the band by Cliff Richard. Early in 1971 The Cats were touring Indonesia where again the Beatlemania-aspect awaited them. "Those horrible looks belie their warm personalities" one lady said in fluent Dutch. However, between performances they were rebuked for meeting with the expatriat Dutch political dissident Poncke Princen whom some in the Netherlands viewed as a traitor.[5] "Don't Waste Your Time" broke a string of Top 10 chart dominations but that proved to be the calm before the storm, as "One Way Wind" (inspired by the divi-divi trees of the Windward Islands) became The Cats' biggest ever hit. In Germany it reached Number One chart position and in 1972 the band responded by releasing Katzenspiele (Cat's Play), featuring their hits rerecorded in German